Caldwell: Bristol Motor Speedway ready for the challenge of world’s largest sporting event crowd since pandemic

It’s a NASCAR fan’s dream scenario.

“Short-track racing. Night racing. A million dollars on the line. Who wouldn’t want to see that? Who knows if we’ll ever see it again?” said Bristol Motor Speedway General Manager Jerry Caldwell on Tuesday.

The BMS staff has just a few short weeks to welcome back Cup Series teams for what will be a rare third trip to Thunder Valley this year.

The sport’s All-Star Race will move to BMS after concerns over spiking cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina. When the event is held on July 15, Bristol will welcome the largest crowd possibly in the world to see a sporting event since the pandemic with 30,000 tickets being sold.

“We have a tremendous responsibility to not only host this event and do it in a safe fashion like we always would but being one of the first major events back with a substantial crowd, we know we are going to set the standard and be able to continue down this pathway to allow for other events so we know there is great responsibility,” Caldwell told us.

The Food City 500 was moved to May due to the pandemic and following the All-Star Race, the Cup Series is scheduled to be back at Bristol for the NASCAR playoffs in September but future schedule changes could have that date moved as well.

Caldwell said fans will be encouraged to wear face masks and the track plans on staggering entrance and exit times to prevent crowds from gathering in a large mass.

“We can seat more than 155,000 people so we plan to spread out these 30,000 fans to keep with social distancing guidelines. We’ll have extra hand washing stations, hand sanitizer, and other items to help race fans feel safe,” he said.

“We had a race here just a few weeks ago so we have a little bit of a head start in getting ready for the event logistically. A lot of fans have always mentioned wanting to see this event at Bristol. Now, it’s here.”